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Pep has 3 more shots at Champions League glory
OFF THE MARK: With his first trophy for City after the 2018 Carabao Cup win over Arsenal
PEP GUARDIOLA has until 2023 to turn Manchester City into the kings of Europe.
That’s the challenge Guardiola has now signed up for after finally putting pen to paper on a two- year contract extension at The Etihad.
The news will end speculation about his immediate future – and claims that his continued failure in the Champions League has driven him to the point of quitting.
But it will not put a stop to the doubters who will still question his ability to land the biggest prize in club football at City.
It’s one that has eluded him since 2011, when he led arguably the best club team of all time in the shape of Barcelona, to a mesmerising triumph over Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United at Wembley.
Fergie was left shaking his head in astonishment that night at the sheer brilliance of Barca.
He will be doing the same thing again almost a decade on at the fact his managerial nemesis hasn’t got his hands on the trophy once dubbed ‘ old big ears’ ever since.
Chances to do so have come and gone with alarming regularity for Guardiola, who has continued to be found wanting in the latter stages of the competition.
Crushing defeats by the likes Liverpool, Monaco and Lyon have of left
Guardiola pining like never before for the one piece of silverware that has eluded him for too long.
But now we know just how long he’s given himself at City to scratch his biggest itch. The timer is now ticking.
If and when Guardiola fulfils his new contract, it will have seen him spend seven years as City boss. It will be the longest commitment he has made to a club since becoming a manager in 2008.
This is a reflection of the close bond he has with Etihad bosses and fellow Spaniards Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, not to mention his growing obsession with landing a third European crown.
It might also be a nod to the impending arrival of a certain Lionel Messi. Who knows?
And it will see him overtake Joe Mercer as the club’s second longest- serving postwar boss – and there is little or no chance of him hanging around to top the list.
City officials were quick to point out Guardiola’s remarkable statistics when announcing the news of his extended stay yesterday.
He’s landed eight trophies since 2016, which equates to a piece of silverware every 31 games, in the process of winning 181 games from 245.
Chairman Khaldoon Al- Mubarak, meanwhile, spoke of how Guardiola’s
“passion and intelligent approach” are now “woven into the very fabric of the football and culture” of the club.
This might well be true, because under Guardiola’s command City have set some of the highest standards ever seen in English football.
But Al- Mubarak also made it clear that there was “so much more to be achieved both on and off the field” and that Guardiola staying was “the natural next step in a journey”.
Guardiola will be hoping that journey leads him to a place he knows well, because the 2023 Champions League final just happens to take place in Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena.
It would be fitting for him to win the Champions League at the home of his former club.
Guardiola, on the other hand, might not want to leave it that late, because he knows that even geniuses like him have no divine rights when it comes to football.